The racist social-media comments that greeted Barack Obama’s re-election on Tuesday ran the gamut from the ignorant to the hateful. Now a group of academics at the Floating Sheep blog has taken some of the worst statements on Twitter — which the group calls “some of the nastiest tweets you might possibly imagine” — and projected them onto a map of the U.S. The result? Nine of the 10 worst states, by number of racist comments, went to Republican candidate Mitt Romney in the Nov. 6 election.

The researchers — the blog is run by geography scholars mostly based in the U.S. — selected hundreds of racist remarks from the final week of the election campaign and correlated the geotagging information embedded in them to the states they originated from. Alabama and Mississippi scored worst, with eight times as many racist tweets as the national average, according to the study. Georgia, North Dakota, Louisiana, Tennessee, Missouri, West Virginia and Minnesota all ranked three to four times above the national average in terms of prevalence of racist tweets. Among those 10 states, only Minnesota voted for Obama.

The authors of the study are quick to point out that they measured only tweets, not individuals, so it’s possible that a small group of disaffected bigots could be accounting for the majority of the offensive messages. Also, they note that some states with low levels of racist tweets also have relatively low levels of Twitter usage in general. However, the geographers write, their findings “support the idea that there are some fairly strong clustering of hate tweets centered in southeastern U.S. which has a much higher rate than the national average.” They continue:

But lest anyone elsewhere become too complacent, the unfortunate fact is that most states are not immune from this kind of activity. Racist behavior, particularly directed at African Americans in the U.S., is all too easy to find both offline and in information space.

It's interesting that the left has to focus on the race card because it cannot accept the fact that Obama is not liked for his political views. There will always be some racism, which BTW few will point out when directed at whites from blacks. But to focus on substance, with education based on unbiased facts is not allowed--the left will always shout you down. That's what they learn in rules for radicals: when you are unarmed with facts, point fingers and distract. Don't they realize there were not enough blacks to elect this president alone? Or that this president is 50% white and more Arab than African by his own admission? I don't even understand why African-Americans can consider him a representative of their race, much less with his anti-American views. That's why facts are pushed aside, in favor of distraction the left calls racism.

After the election, racism was made prevalent by supporters of both parties especially on media websites true enough, however when you have people who just BOLDLY put their racist viewpoints out in the open then of course its going to get noticed and yes it will be talked about. FOX news for example throughout the whole election exposed how they truly felt about minorities in the country. People on Twitter and Facebook expressed how they truly felt about minorities after it was shown that President Obama won the election. Then you have riots on college campuses, institutions in which we should have equality in this world. Society truly has decided to take massive steps back towards the ugly history that people are trying to forget. Am I surprised that the South had the most racist tweets, uh no. Living in the South you see some form of discrimination on a daily basis, that's obviously not going to change. The issues that I had with this is that majority of these tweets came from young people. Like who are you hearing this foolish, ignorant mess from?? An then on top of it its always funny to me how people can work and have relationships with people of a different culture but when election season comes around their true feelings are exposed and the don't talk to these people. So what you don't care for President Obama, he is still going to be the president for the next 4 years. He is however not the controller of your life so please get over yourselves. If you want a tissue because racial tweets towards Romney supporters wasn't talked about, I can mail you a box. And to the person who made an ignorant ass comment about BET not talking about this article, please go broaden your viewpoints on society. Not every African American watches BET, some of us actually watch news stations and read up on every activity in politics.

The media focuses on tweets. There is also virulent racism in Hollywood and on Wall Street and in the media to name a few. The tribe that got to the position of holding all the cards and having most of these lucrative positions did so by being bigoted and racist; it did so by squelching the opportunities of others, and promoting and handing these opportunities predominantly to only their own.

The real definition of racism is about doing things that are harmful, that hurt or negatively affect other people's lives and livelihoods. It isn't at all about what the media likes to hype and claim as "what someone says".

The funny thing is that now the Republicans are talking about reaching out to racial minorities since as Lindsay Graham said " we arn't generating enough angry white men". Not going to work for a very long time since they are already viewed as a racist inclusive party. The one minority group that has been their most reliable voters, Cuban Americans, they lost last week. It's going to be a very long time before we see another Republican president. May the infighting begin.

I wonder how many people realize that Ayn Rand was pro-abortion, an adulteress and a social security and Medicare recipient. This objectivist champion of the right and hero of right wing darlings such as Paul Ryan was far from a producer and far from a social conservative. Unless you call producing juvenile and unrealistic fiction "producing." She did produce terms by which far right wing Republicans can speak to their base without appearing racist (ie, moocher and taker). But we all know what they mean...

I've noticed that this article fails to mention the keywords used in the search for these people to make this map. They used quite a few keywords to find all the "racial" tweets. Some are indeed racial, while others are only words like "black", "monkey", "reelected", and "won".

Also, they searched for the word "Obama"... Since when has the word Obama become a racial word? Since when has those other words become racial? Some of the tweets could have said something like "Obama was reelected, and since you won the bet, I will now go to the zoo dressed in black and kiss that monkey." Silly I know, but a tweet like that would have popped up on their "search" as being racial.

Don't believe me on the search words? Look it up yourself, there are other articles specifying the search keywords.

Seems to me that certain sites are promoting division in America by leaving that tidbit of news out of their articles.

Well here we are. Just as expected. Obama has won a second term and the liberal media is right back to dividing the country using race and class. Of course the racism they are referring to is only anti Obama. The anti white tweets from Obama supporters threatening to beat whitey, or riot if Romney won the election doesn't count. It's only racism when whites are saying it.

This is the very reason I am not a Democrat. I find the party of racism utterly and completely vile and offensive. Good luck Obama supporters. You may have won the election, but half of the country has disowned you.

I observed more 'rich white guy' comments than comments referring to Obama's race. A much higher percentage of whites voted for Obama than the percentage of non-whites that voted for Romney. Where does the majority of racism really lie?

Now here is some real hate for you. Goes to show you how divided we have become. I read these Twitter feeds and am stunned by the language and lack of respect of other's opinions. I wonder how the Democrats are now going to make peace with the rest of the country, the slightly less than half who voted for Romney. We still have to work together to and speak to each other. Like this? Religious or not, God help us all.

The mans name is "Flip Flop Mitt".. He has no consistency. Mitt Romney's biggest obstical was himself... Mitt Romney is a lier.. If its not about race then Obama would have won by a larger margin... Mitt Romney stands for nothing. I mean did anyone watch his interviews,debates, or pre-election views... Everyone thinks African Americans just want things we just want equality..We're Not telling white America to give us what u have, but give us the oppertunity to acquire it on our own..

The south has always had an issue with people of colour. Didn't Jim Crow laws have their origins in the southern states? The legacy from that era still remains: 'blacks are subhumand and no way should there be on in the Whitehouse'.

They're of no consequence to the bigger picture of the US moving forward to meet its challenges.

A litte survey here: In discussion with friends, we think that many people are more in the middle than far to either side. However in this election, the sides were polarized by an "either/or" attitude, leading to the most contentious election in memory.

I'm not afraid to say that I am environmentally conscious but fiscally conservative. I want the government to stay out of religion and our sex lives, am not racist or anti-gay, support personal freedom (and the responsibility that goes along with it), and less government restrictions. That being said, no one has a need to carry around an Uzi. While we're at it, how about not spending more than we take in? I can't do that, so why can our government? Let's get sensible and start a third party, let's call it the "Common Sense Party". I'll be the first member. Anyone else want to join?

@HarryMasters great point sir, not a peep about those tweets... i dont agree with the anti-obama stuff but its portrayed that only whites make racist comments.. both sides should be given equal attention- racism is wrong, covering up for racists is worse

@RealityChex Pro abortion and an adulteress? That's bad enough, but a Social Security and Medicare recipient, too! My god, she should have been shot.

This juvenile and unrealistic book is more than 50 years old and sold 1.5 million copies just since 2008. It's been published in over 15 foreign languages and that's not her only book. But I, like you, am sick and tired of these non-producers collecting Social Security. There outa be a law! And with four more years, there probably will be.

BTW, there are passages in Atlas Shrugged that could have been pulled, almost word for word, from some of Obama's campaign speeches. Do you think he read it or does it just come instinctively?

@geckotan They also have published the tweets and indeed they are racial so i guess there keywords were spot on. Also don't forget not only can they geotag you to your state but with your ip address even further. Never put anything in writing that you would not want later to come back and bite you in the @ss

What liberal media? ABC,CBS ( military corporation) NBC ( also military),CNN.Fox all donated heavily to Bush and Romney. There is no equivalent, on the left , like FOX's 24/7/365 free right wing propaganda. Romney's Bain owns Clear Channel Radio which owns over 90% of all radio. Right wing talk radio dominates all talk and some areas, whole states, get nothing but right wing talk simultaneously, on multiple stations. Right wing talk radio has a listenership of 56 million that is larger than all TV/Cable viewership combined. The vitriol and hatred from the right eclipses anything from the left.

@RivalryMaker The half of the country that has disowned Obama supporters is the half that voted for Romney...the Producers.

Funny but when you look at a map of the part of the US that Romney won and a map of "taker" states, that is, states that get more in help from the federal gov't than they give in taxes, they are almost identical. Contrary to what Romney believes as revealed by his "47%" comments, he was voted for by the moocher states...the producer states, those that give more than they receive from the federal gov't voted for Obama.

This is why the rest of us are not fooled when the right uses terms like "moochers" and "takers", those are codewords for darkies and brownies. Because if we were really talking about moochers and takers, that is, those on the gov't teat like the old confederate states and Medicare and SS recipients, those are the Republican base, the real moochers and takers.

Latinos voted overwhelmingly for Obama...they are also least likely as a minority group to be on welfare. The real winners as far as receiving public assistance is....drum roll please....the biggest Republican demographic....white people at 61%. That is, 61% of all public assistance dollars go to the largest Republican voting block. Moochers and producers? It seems as if Fox News and all of you who drink their Koolaid have gotten that twisted around...Romney got the moocher vote, Obama the producer vote. They got it as wrong as Karl Rove got Ohio on election night...

@courtobserver Nope. Obama got historic low percentages of the white vote even for a democrate between 37-43% for him to still win. Democrats generally perform overwhelming better with minorities because of their policies.

Additionally you may want to check your use of racism. An inert feeling of superiority based on race.

@courtobserver Lindsay Graham a Republican said that the Republican Party needs to become more inclusive "since we aren't generating enough "angry white men" any more. All minorities ran from the Republican Party Hispanics, Blacks, Asian Americans and even the reliable group for fifty years, Cuban-Americans. The Republican Party is viewed as a racist inclusive party and won't win the Presidency again for a very long time.

@courtobserver First sentence: maybe such language is unfortunate in that it segments society into groups, but it's definitely nowhere near as offensive as it's not grounded in a historical context of discrimination and persecution. Last two sentences: by that logic, Jews could've been accused of racism in 1930s Germany for not casting votes for the NSDAP, no?

@Yooperchicks I clicked on the link and read the informtion. The thing that I noticed was that even though the storied indicated several, or maybe many people gloated and/or had great disdain or hate for the other side, what I didn't see ware the racial related name calling. Therein lies the difference. Believe it or not, it is one thing to dislike a group based on philosophies and differing opinions. When the name calling is based on ethnicity and race...the political debates are lost and it's just pure racial. I'm not sure that you understand that.

@commonsense12 You have the opportunity. Our laws favor African Americans. You have your own black schools, we do not. You get preferred acceptance into the U of Mich and other schools. There are equal opportunity laws. I'm tired of the grousing that blacks don't have any opportunities. Look at the statistics to see the crime rate, the dropouts from high school, the low marriage rate, the fatherless homes in black families. No one is brave enough to speak like this for fear of being called a racist. Blacks, Asians, Hispanics and Caucasians (and many other races) all live in America and try to make the best of their lives. Some do better than others. If it is only blacks that don't have any opportunities, then why don't you hear the Hispanics and Asians whining? Grow up and take some self-responsibility and stop blaming the Republicans for holding you back. Name calling should have stopped back in elementary school.

@Yooperchicks You shouldn't spend more than you take in but you can. It's wise that you don't. Same for goverment. Oh yeah and corporations. But corporations spend more and then let go of 25,000 employees to save thier business due to thier lack of good judement on spending company funds.

@JamesLoughran@RivalryMaker . . Hey NUMBNUT . . . it's not VITRIOL when it the truth . . . try reading Bernie Goldbergs "BIAS" and then come back and see if you still "think" (I use the word "think" loosely in your case) that the news media ISN'T biased. Your one-sided view is obvious . . . so is you stupidity when it comes to the media news outlets

@RealityChex@RivalryMaker You don't know what you're talking about. You can't compare percentage of welfare dollars to a race, you have to compare the percentage of a race on welfare. And whites that are on welfare are not the biggest Republican voting block.

Also, there are black precincts in Chicago and Philly(and other cities) that voted 99% for Obama. Are we to believe this is because, after careful consideration, they agreed with his domestic and foreign policies and his support of the Federal Reserve? I'm sure Obama's position on Iran was and important factor, also. Over 50% of this voting block are functionally illiterate. Is it just possible that their vote was based on race alone?

Obama’s win was bigger than John Kennedy’s in 1960 (303 electoral votes, popular vote margin of 112,827), bigger than Richard Nixon’s in 1968 (301 electoral votes, popular vote plurlaity of 512,000), bigger than Jimmy Carter’s in 1976 (297 electoral votes, popular vote margin of 1,683,247), bigger than George W. Bush’s in 2000 (271 electoral votes and a popular vote loss of 543,816).

@Chatdechat@courtobserver A remark doesn't have to be offensive to be racist. I, and most whites, are not offended by being called whitey, honky, cracker, but those names are surely racist. Blacks are not offended when they use racist name calling within their own group but the names are still racist. If you vote for someone over someone else based only on race, the vote is racist. If you accept that definition then the vast majority of racism came from Obama supporters. A much higher percentage of blacks voted for Obama based strictly on race than did whites vote for Romney based on race. Point two, Judaism is not a race.

@mantisdragon91@Yooperchicks Awful, of course. We can't control the nutcases in either party, and there are plenty. My point is to some of the people posting here who have said that their party is not hateful, and has been wronged somehow. Your comment has been repeated over and over, like we haven't heard this enough. The fringe is just that..... the fringe. The rest of us, the majority of us on both sides are rational. Even my own family is split 50/50. We all cancelled out each other's votes, lol.

You have it wrong. Minorities, particularly black, are the last hired and the first fired. They statistically are denied access even when fully qualified. The young students are treated more hardly than their white fellow students for the same infractions ( economically, schools are more segregated now than they were thirty years ago) . Police activity is focused unfairly on black people. Even big business targets minorities ( Wells Fargo has just been fined 179 billion for unfairly singling out minorities and exploiting them with liar mortgage loans, Bank of America has been brought upon charges also as well as 500 finical institutions). The facts do not back up your assertions.

@Yooperchicks@commonsense12 Our laws protect AA's, not favor them. There would be no need for the laws if there was a trust that all people are actually treated fairly and equally. Our history, including the last 20 years and not just 100 years ago, proves that. Also, we don't have our own black schools. The difference is there are schools that are majority or historically black, and some white people do not want to attend those schools. But understand nothing keeps them from attending, covertly or otherwise. However, a little research will show various examples where barriers at a minimum and discrimination at the most, has been a factor in AA's not being able to attend certain schools, join certain clubs, get certain jobs, result in higher arrest,...you name it. But don't believe, do your own research. While you are at it, review Jane Elliot's "brown eyed, blue eyed" experiment. It is rather dated, but offers interesting insight to the psyche of most people's minds. We create what we create...

@JamesLoughran@effenmontero@RivalryMaker Goldberg has not always bee on the right - it wasn't until AFTER he blew the whistle on the LEFT that he was labeled as such. THIS is the only reason he is on FOX . . because he called out his former employer. I have no interest in what Canada does, just what the LEFT does in the states.

Bernie Goldberg? You are citing a right wing hack opinion, verses documented statistics? The facts and figures I listed are legitimate. Calling people names and descending into the gutter does not advance your position, In fact it only weakens it. Truth is relative, but no one owns facts. Research the points I mentioned and then come back with a legitimate , reasoned, intelligent response, instead of infantile hostility. Oh, by the way, Goldberg is a regular on FOX. FOX sued in appellate court to force their talking heads to lie as told or get fired ( and FOX won!). FOX is not allowed to broadcast news in Canada because it is against the law to lie or mislead the public on airwaves there. So much for Goldberg's credibility platform. Find a better answer.

@courtobserver@RealityChex@RivalryMaker Romney did not court the black vote. He himself said so with his 47% comment. Black people understand stormfront code...you give them way too little credit.

Why would blacks vote for a guy that goes to the NAACP and talks past them to make points with his base?

The states Romney won are moocher states; so when he talks about moochers he is not talking about actual moochers...he is talking about those who his base perceives are society's moochers. Black people understand this, trust me.

Although Romney may not be a racist, I don't believe he is in the strictest sense of the word, he realizes that a large part of his base has this world view, so he had to speak to them, albeit in code. Kind of like when Santorum slipped and said he's not going to take money and redistribute it to blacks and O'Reilly stated that whites are no longer the majority (technically, they are, they just have to work along with minorities now) and then contrasts that statement with people that voted for Obama want free stuff (ie, moochers). So O'Reilly contrasts white america with the moocher class. You'd have to be an idiot not to understand what he is saying. Statements like these provide the key to unlock the code that the right speaks.

So when you talk about a racist tone to the campaign, Romney and Fox News, his campaign team, have been talking to their base in code. We all understand what they are saying. That black people understand this and will not vote for the guy who essentially groups them with moochers and his supporters who do the same, that is not racism, that is the self-preservation and self interest instinct. It has only been 50 years since the lynchings and water hosings were curbed...some of those that experienced that are still alive and the memory of this is alive in subsequent generations. Give them a break if they won't vote for the spiritual sons of those who did these things to them.

You descend into the gutter, character assassinate, and speak patronizingly of people you do not know and have never met, yet pretend to have globular knowledge that gives you the right to judge. Well if you think calling people names and speaking like an adolescent makes you sound like you are intelligent and know what you are talking about, it does neither.

One of the worst? Lying to the U.S. and the world into bogus wars that killed hundreds of thousands of innocent civilians in Iraq that did nothing to us isn't worse? Torture, false imprisonment without trial, international kidnapping, spying on Americans without their knowledge isn't worse? Overseeing and contributing to the second great Republican depression isn't worse? President Obama reversed that depression. He added 5.2 million jobs, saved the auto industry and the massive supply chain connected to it. He established over 30 months of consistent economic/job growth and lowered taxes more than any president in half a century and HE is the worst president! Only Congress can appropriate funds or pass a bill and this Congress has done nothing ( the most do nothing Congress in all of American history). Turn that self righteous ( and specious) rage on the Republican Congress where it deserves.

@effenmontero@JamesLoughran@courtobserver@Chatdechat You totally misunderstood my comments. They had to do with racism, not Obama. Actually, I think Obama is one of the worst presidents this country has ever seen and is doing possibly irreparable harm to our economy and to our freedom. Your sister-in-law may not like me after all.

@JamesLoughran@courtobserver@Chatdechat . . " More white people voted for Obama than did Romney " . . . just means that those who voted for Udumbdumb are LOW INFORMATION VOTERS . . . fools that "believe" Odumbdumb "is a nice guy" . . . my sister in law is one of those "LIV" . . you two would get along just great !

@courtobserver@Chatdechat Nope. Racism isn't a name without the intent behind it. Period. The name didn't create our horrid past. The mentality behind it did. Which is an inert feeling of superiority. Superiority Complex. This is racism. And it breeds the desire to do anything to make sure you remain superior.

How do you know blacks are not offended when poor language is used in their "group"? Black people may have voted for the better man because they are more realistic and informed. More white people voted for Obama than did Romney, so what does that mean? Regardless of who is using racist terms in any context, racism is racism, even when used against ones self. Your very thin veil of racism is lame.

For over 70 years the Democrats have outproduced, grown the economy and created jobs three times that of the Republicans(OMB). Over that same time the Republicans have outspent, raised more debt and deficits than Democrats. There is no practical equating Democrats with Republicans.

@Yooperchicks@mantisdragon91 There are extremists on both sides. The problem sits with the parents of newer generations and schools. The history of Racism shouldn't be taught to the very young, it should be taught at either late high school or college level history. A crackdown on racism with parents needs to happen as well because more than likely the children will take the racist beliefs of their parents with them. I am not in favor of government interfering with the raising process but it is these beliefs that truly harm the kind of person the children become.

@Yooperchicks@mantisdragon91 Agreed unfortunately the Right Wing fringe has been given more legitimacy but idiots like Rush, Oreilly and Hannitty. They are killing what was once a great mainstream party. Until they are marginalized, I suspect you will lose more elections.

Huh? The Democrats need to win over whom? The people who have insulted the poor and elderly? Insulted women? Insulted minorities? Insulted the average working American? Insulted the educated? The right wing has insulted and condemned everyone who is not a religious extremist or rich, for decades! It is past time asking the Democrats, who have produced for everyone, to do anything. It is now time for the right wing to grow up, move past the 1970's and get with the rest of us. It's their turn!

@mantisdragon91@Yooperchicks@JaelJames /There are obvious radicals and hateful people of all races and parties. This is not about focusing on the worst in each party, but trying to find a common ground that is sensible and workable. If only the media would stop focusing on the worst, the inflammatory, we'd all be able to make some progress. The Democrats need to win over the 49%, not alienate them further.